! SOLVED ! - OPEN LETTER TO BETHESDA: LV VERSION CH/AT/DE

[F1GHT3R™]

!!! EDIT JUNE 2014 !!!

Finally Bethesda decided to make Wolfenstein The New Order Uncut/Multi-language aviable for Customers from Switzerland!

The Steam Store still leads to the German Version but if youre in the swiss Steam Store you see the following Notice:

Notice: In Switzerland customers will automatically receive in their Steam library the regular version of Wolfenstein®: The New Order as well as the German-language version without any Nazi-related symbols and content. The regular version includes Italian, French and English text and audio.

So actually we get both Versions for no extracharge. Well even if this whole Version mess shouldnt have happenend in the first anyway, i must say im very relieved and found back some faith for bethesda.

At this point i must be fair and say THANK YOU Bethesda for listen to your customers.

Also a big Thanks to everybody that supported my open Letter and our cause generally.

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Original open Letter from Q1 2014:

To: Bethesda Softworks (Publisher)

This is a Demand to make the English Original Uncut Version aviable trough Steam for Users from Switzerland and Austria.

Germany has its own Game Rating System called USK and has National Laws to forbid Swastika Symbols and other Content of your Videogame*
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*EDIT
A German fellow Gamer advised me that they are allowed to own the Uncut Version:

Wolferatus eredeti hozzászólása:

German law is a bit different then publisher or valve think, its not alowed to sell the uncut in germany but we have the rights to import the game as uncut edition! thats a bit different, so remove at least the option, that peoples from germany can play the games bought legal in UK as retails! (SteamDB Tag: prohibitrunincountries: DE AT CH) - for Uncut Edition!

Cause of that i highly suggest you remove the Region Lock, cause its from the view of Law not necessary.
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However Switzerland and Austria dont share the same Laws as Germany!

Both countries neither use USK or have National Laws that could prevent your Game from Release in its original Version. Both Countries use the Rating System P.E.G.I. which stands for Pan European Game Information and applies to almost every European Nation. PEGI doesnt force Developers to cut their Games, they only rate them and thats it.

In an official Statement on the German Bethesda forums you did promise that the censorship only would apply to Symbols and Terms like "Nazi".
The "explict display" (violence) would leaved untouched.
But on the Store Page is clearly written LOW VIOLENCE VERSION*
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*EDIT: They changed the discription to the following:

Notice: To take account for local laws, certain symbols, and content that may be construed to violate § 86a of the German Criminal Code, have been replaced by no less atmospheric alternatives.

But honestly i still dont believe that the Violence is uncensored. Cause the German USK not only bans Swastika symbols, they are also infamous for ban/force to censor almost every Game that features Dismemberment/Headshots. In some cases they even forbid blood effects. And since theres only one German Version i highly expect this to be censored aswell. (However this is speculation and i will update this as soon its confirmed in any way**)

**EDIT JUNE 2014
Finally the Cut Report from the German Schnittberichte.com site has arrived. As expected all Symbols are removed without any exceptions. The Violence seems indeed to be untouched, except one scene that includes an Regime Oven for Human Corpses. In the German Version theres no Bodies and Flames inside.
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Its a Punch in the Face for every adult Gamer living in one of the affected Countries. In Fact instead of getting the same Copy as all others from Europe we get a censored Version just cause we share the same Language as Germany? Thats like i would try to force the Americans to drive on the Left side of the Road just cause they speak English.
This is ridiculous!

Im NOT even asking for a German Uncut Version, I am demanding for the Original ENGLISH Version, so no additional work on the game is required. Only the deactivation of Region Lock for Switzerland and Austria. Thats very little effort for much MORE SALES, cause no one will buy a censored edition that wont get any updates or dlc.

I really hope i can change your mind cause if youre honest, its in your own interest.

PS:
Please just dont do the same Mistake on DOOM!

To: Community

English:
Feel free to share your opinion in this Thread, it would be best if you write in english so the Developers and Publishers can read it too.

To my Neighbors from Germany: Stay strong, somewhen you get P.E.G.I too.

German:
Fühlt euch frei in diesem Thread eure Meinung zu äussern, am besten auf Englisch, so dass die Entwickler es auch lesen können.

An meine Deutschen Nachbaren: Bleibt stark, eines Tages habt ihr auch P.E.G.I.

Wolfenstein Low Violence Version Steam Thread:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/288570/discussions/0/540739319562002372/?tscn=1397721373

[JohnnyDread]

bubbacho eredeti hozzászólása:

Do Austrians and Swiss buy and download games from the same Steam region as Germany? If not then I don't see why they can't allow a Swiss or Austrian IP address to unlock and install the uncut version of the game.

No, according to SteamDB there are different store codes for AT and CH. There is no technical reason for Bethesda to do this. I just don't get why they don't sell the Uncut US version in CH and AT as well and let us users decide if we want a German translation (which is LV) or the English / Uncut version.

[C0BR4.cH]

F1GHT3R™ eredeti hozzászólása:

Do you mind to post a comment here, as soon you get some answer? I bet many people (including me) would like to read what they said.
Thank you for your Effort :)

Sure I will post their answer as soon as I get one : )

Meanwhile I found out that an Onlinestore from Switzerland is selling the PEGI-Rated UK-Version of Game. If I can't get it on Steam, then I will buy it there.

http://www.wog.ch/index.cfm/details/product/35017-Wolfenstein-The-New-Order-E

[JohnnyDread]

Yes, I'll buy it there as well as soon as I have confirmation that it activates correctly on Steam.

[C0BR4.cH]

Well it seems that Bethesda is ignoring my email.

From Steam Support I got another message, at least they put some effort in it and answer properly:

Steam Support eredeti hozzászólása:

Hello,

Thank you for your comments, we value feedback from the Steam community. I will forward your comments onto the appropriate department."

[MancSoulja]

If i lived in Switzerland or Austria I wouldnt be inside playing games. I'd be outside enjoying the beautiful countryside.....

[CBU2029]

Ich schreib jetzt mal in deutsch. Ist es denn nicht auch so, dass man hier in der Schweiz zwar eine englische oder gar amerikanische PC-Version wird kaufen können, diese aber nicht uncut aktivierbar sein wird? Zumindest ist das der letzte mir bekannte Stand der Dinge.

Und ja, es macht überhaupt keinen Sinn uns und die Österreicher nach deutschen Gesetzen einzustufen. Das ist eine frechheit.

[Stupendous Man]

MancSoulja eredeti hozzászólása:

If i lived in Switzerland or Austria I wouldnt be inside playing games. I'd be outside enjoying the beautiful countryside.....

Every country has beautiful areas that you can go explore. If I lived in Hawaii I would go to the beach or explore the amazing jungle (there are more in the US but one is enough). In China? Go see some amazing historic sites. That doesn't mean thats all you should do. Gaming is a fun way to relax when you have worked a very hard day.

That said, I would assume there is some legal reason that Bethesda is doing it, they do of course pay lawyers a lot of money to check these things.

In honesty though, I would go to Bethesdas site and see if they have a more direct forum as very few big publishers check Steam forums.

And as said, this is out of Steams hands as they do not control how a publisher sets up their content, they only deliver it and advertise it.

[Wales Grey]

I don't get why people are so upset about this. Bethdesia decided to "region-lock" the game because they wanted to be absolutely compliant with national laws.

[Volkira]

Wales☆Grey eredeti hozzászólása:

I don't get why people are so upset about this. Bethdesia decided to "region-lock" the game because they wanted to be absolutely compliant with national laws.

As an Australian living in Germany and for all the expats and US serviceman living off base what version of the game do you think we can buy since the German version only has German audio and blocking IP/region locking prevents us from importing and playing the English version.

[Rawrlex]

sorry to say that, but its totally pointless to post that here.

nobody from bethesda will read that here.

[C0BR4.cH]

MEATMONSTER eredeti hozzászólása:

sorry to say that, but its totally pointless to post that here.

nobody from bethesda will read that here.

well it's also pointless to write them a direct email (as I did), because they seem to ignore it. and if you search for official forums for wolfenstein, well, I found a button that should lead to it, but it redirects you to some standard page ...

[LEANIJA]

@WalesGrey: Please consider reading my posting. It has nothing to do with laws, none of Austrian / Swiss / German laws forbid the import, ownership and playing of this game or any game like it. It has everything to do with Bethesda being weird.

@Meatmonster: Exactly what Cobr4.ch said. They ignore emails and even regionlock their own forums. They went as far as to say "if you use VPN to post here as Austrian/Swiss/German, we will ban you". I wrote them directly and got no reply, I urged Eurogamer to cover this as well, but no-one seems to care. I wrote Bethesda again today, I will probably not get any response.
But I for one know what I'm gonna do: not buy this game unless the censorship is gone.

[F1GHT3R™]

C0BR4.cH eredeti hozzászólása:

Well it seems that Bethesda is ignoring my email.

I was kinda expecting that. Nordschatten made a similar exprience.

nordschatten eredeti hozzászólása:

I wrote Bethesda a while ago, they just sent me an automated response and later a survey if I was happy with their service...

I guess in the survey was no point that tells them that theyre screwing customers...

C0BR4.cH eredeti hozzászólása:

From Steam Support I got another message, at least they put some effort in it and answer properly:

Steam Support eredeti hozzászólása:

Hello,Thank you for your comments, we value feedback from the Steam community. I will forward your comments onto the appropriate department.

That on the other Hand sounds promising. Im curious who the "appropriate department" is. Atleast steam cares a bit compared to bethesda:

nordschatten eredeti hozzászólása:

They ignore emails and even regionlock their own forums. I wrote Bethesda again today, I will probably not get any response.

Its an insult how they treat us. But they must know, every ignored email is another proof for our cause.

Anyway Good Job you all !
soon we will know more, one way or another. Till then i highly suggest you follow Nordschatten's hint:

nordschatten eredeti hozzászólása:

I for one know what I'm gonna do: not buy this game unless the censorship is gone.

[Stupendous Man]

Volkira eredeti hozzászólása:

Wales☆Grey eredeti hozzászólása:

I don't get why people are so upset about this. Bethdesia decided to "region-lock" the game because they wanted to be absolutely compliant with national laws.

As an Australian living in Germany and for all the expats and US serviceman living off base what version of the game do you think we can buy since the German version only has German audio and blocking IP/region locking prevents us from importing and playing the English version.

That is sort of the point to this thread. The laws in Germany are what are making it so others outside of Germany are getting the same region locked down version. If you live in Germany, you should expect it as that is their laws. And every game dev has to follow the laws in each country.

F1GHT3R™ eredeti hozzászólása:

C0BR4.cH eredeti hozzászólása:

Well it seems that Bethesda is ignoring my email.

I was kinda expecting that. Nordschatten made a similar exprience.

nordschatten eredeti hozzászólása:

I wrote Bethesda a while ago, they just sent me an automated response and later a survey if I was happy with their service...

I guess in the survey was no point that tells them that theyre screwing customers...

C0BR4.cH eredeti hozzászólása:

From Steam Support I got another message, at least they put some effort in it and answer properly:

That on the other Hand sounds promising. Im curious who the "appropriate department" is. Atleast steam cares a bit compared to bethesda:

nordschatten eredeti hozzászólása:

They ignore emails and even regionlock their own forums. I wrote Bethesda again today, I will probably not get any response.

Its an insult how they treat us. But they must know, every ignored email is another proof for our cause.

Anyway Good Job you all !
soon we will know more, one way or another. Till then i highly suggest you follow Nordschatten's hint:

nordschatten eredeti hozzászólása:

I for one know what I'm gonna do: not buy this game unless the censorship is gone.

They are not mistreating you per say, just doing as any large company that gets thousands of emails a day does and trying to handle it. You have to realize that they will probably respond but expecting them to answer, personally, every email that they get is the same as what people would do before email, expect them to answer every letter they got.

I understand your issue and why you are upset but again the bigger devs do not normally go on Steam forums much. Hell I would see if you can contact the game developer and ask them to forward it to whoever they need to at Bethesda.

And while I do hope they make it available as you want it, do not be surprised if there are laws in place that you may not be aware of or a reason they have it set this way due to what their lawyers found. There are a lot of times laws may not get removed but also may no longer be enforced. A good example is where I live in Tucson, Arizona in the US. Here it is illegal for women to wear pants, it is still a law that is on the books but it is not enforced. It is just cheaper to leave the law on the books and to ignore it than to remove it.

[Muse]

LOL Please...you know it has to do with your contry laws, not Steam or Bethesda, right? Steam cant sell it BY LAW IN YOUR COUNTRY uncensored. Blame your government.

Saying they put the restrictions in without prior knowledge of them is somewhat insulting, since they have to check on them before releasing them to another country outside of the USA. And I assure you, Zenimax is overly thorough with legal acts. However, Im not saying you are in the wrong for wanting what you desire.

Just have somone gift it to you through Steam. Problem solved.